Scientific Achievement
- Researchers in the Nanomahines program incorporated new topological dopant states into graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) using nitrogen impurities. The energy of the new states was precisely controlled, enabling low-energy basis states akin to the polarized 𝜋-bond commonly seen in carbonyl (C=O) groups
Significance and Impact
- Provides a new level of bottom-up quantum design for molecular nanostructures since these states are represented by a two-site designer Hamiltonian which is equivalent to the behavior of charge-transfer materials such as organic photovoltaics and Aviram-Ratner molecular diodes
Research Details
- Engineered and synthesized localized nondegenerate topological boundary modes engineered into the structures of dilute nitrogen core-doped 5-atom-wide armchair-GNRs
- Used STS to characterize how topological quantum states in GNRs energetically evolve as a function of spatial overlap
Publication Details
P. H. Jacobse, M. Pizzochero, E. C. H. Wen, G. Borin Barin, X. Li, Z. Mutlu, K. Müllen, E. Kaxiras, M.F. Crommie, F.R. Fischer, ACS Nano (2025).
